Challenge Day 3: Organizing!

The challenge question for day 3 is "Write a blog post on the same topic as one my most popular posts." According to my blog stats, my most viewed post is "Light Bulb Moment" which is a post about organizing scrapbook or other craft projects.

Today I am going to share show I organize a couple of items.

First up is Ribbon. I'm the first to admit that I have a ribbon problem. I absolutely love ribbon and lace. For the longest time I had ribbon stored in candy type jars. In fact, these exact jars form IKEA. I have to admit that it looked gorgeous, but it wasn't very practical to use. Here is now I store my ribbon currently.

It is just a craft organizer, and I wrapped my ribbon around embroidery floss cards. The thicker lace and ribbon I can fold and put on the side like the lace. I don't typically use much thicker ribbon so it works for me. I'm also not going to tell you how many containers of ribbon like this that I have. Once I am done organizing my craft room and find all my ribbon and get it wound, I'm going to organize this by color, using the main color of the ribbon as a guide.

The next item that I'm going to touch on organizing is photographs. I used to be really good at remembering when I took a picture and find it easily. As I'm getting older, I'm no good at all. Or for instance if I want to find pictures with the Bellywings in them, and don't care from when they are from, I would have to sort through each month, and then each day to find them. It annoyed me to no end. This is how my picture files used to look:

Very clean and simple right? Well, I couldn't find a thing in there.

In 2010 I started to organize them a bit better. I still wanted them to be found my date, as I'm a bit anal that way, but I started to rename the folders to what pictures were inside.

Now I can easily find all of the pictures with Cullen or the Bellywings in them.

You may have a different photo organization method than I do, and hopefully that is working well for you. I just wanted to share what works well for me.

Remember, you can click on any of the images to make them larger.

Challenge Day 2: Answer one question I think people visiting my blog may have.

Edited: I thought that it would be a good idea to edit in short answers to these questions for those of you that haven't followed my blog from the beginning. And I'm too lazy to go and search for all of these answers.

This is a hard challenge for me, for some reason. I guess that's why it's called a challenge, huh? I have thought of many possible questions...

Why do you call your "The Wannabe Domestic Diva?"

Because I would love to me a stay at home mom/wife someday. Taking care of the house, baking everything homemade, etc. I'm not a Domestic Diva yet, but I'm a wannabe.

Why do you use your real name as your URL?

Because I knew that I would never stay with the same title of my blog, and my using my name, I could change the title of my blog as it suited me. Though the draw back is that I'm not anonymous.

What is the true point of your blog?

There is none! It's about everything and anything I want too. A little bit of normal, a little bit of crazy.

Why don't you have children?

Let's just say that it's not from lack of trying. The short answer is that I have PCOS, which makes it difficult to conceive. Long answer I'm not comfortable blogging about at the moment. Perhaps one day.

Why don't you have a focus on your blog?

Because if I did, I think I would get bored. I like not having limits to what I can post about on my blog. If it just were scrapbooking, I couldn't post funny stories about my sisters, or my money problems.

What are your hobbies?

Scrapbooking, reading, photography, baking, crafting in general, dorking around online.

Why do you go for such long periods without posting?

Life has it's ups and downs. Sometimes when life gets busy, my blog gets neglected.

I've decided I'm going to not answer any of those as I have answered them somewhat in previous posts. The true question that I think everyone is wondering is...

What did you have for breakfast today?

You might think I am a mind reader right? Ya'll were really wondering that right? Well I am going to put your mind at ease today.

I had a bowl of frosted mini-wheats for breakfast.

Now ya'll can sleep tonight knowing what I had for breakfast.

Challenge Day 1: What the purpose of my website is, who I am, and why my blog is unique.

When I started blogging, it was back in 2005, I wasn't sure what I would write about, but thought it would be fun to hop on the blogging bandwagon. My blog is a personal one, and about a wide variety of topics. The purpose of my blog is to share a bit about me. Almost like a diary of sorts, my personal thoughts, struggles, at least what I choose to share. I like it’s almost like a short record of my life. I also share recipes, my hobbies, and my opinions about topics. For a while it was a place to share my year in pictures. That was fun, blogging nearly every day. My blog is unique because no two people have the same thoughts, opinions, hobbies. I’m trying to make my blog reflect the true me, as I discover who I really am, what is really important to me.

I’m 28, currently living in an apartment, separated from my husband. We are going through counseling and trying to work through things. I’m a Christian. I work full-time as an Administrative Assistant and love the area that I am currently working in. My hobbies include baking, scrapbooking, crafting in general, reading, and photography. I love anything vintage or vintage inspired. I’m a daughter, and older sister. My sisters are 16 and 18, they make me feel so old sometimes. I love music, especially anything country. I love to clean and scrapbook with the music cranked. I’d love to travel abroad someday. I’m currently working to be debt free. I also need to work on getting healthy again. I also suffer from depression, and am working to get that under control. Expect some blog posts on those topics sooner or later. I love watching history type shows on tv, and don’t follow politics, though I know I should pay more attention. I try to catch the news and weather daily. I used to be a news junkie, but it seems like everything is negative, and I need to surround myself with positive things, so I don’t watch or read it near as much as I used too. I love naps, clouds, and owls. I’m a very random person, and often when telling a story go off on a tangent. As Ma says, “It’s the Nelson version of the story.” Nelson is my maiden name. That is me in a nutshell.

The Seven Day Blogging Challenge

Andrew, my Twitter friend is doing a Seven Day Blogging Challenge. He challenged a few people, including me, to do the challenge. I have accepted this challenge and look forward to doing it. Here are the 7 topics that Andrew has challenged us to write about.

Starting Saturday I will write one blog post a day, each with 300 to 400 words about:

1. What the purpose of my website is, who I am and why my blog is unique.
2. Answer one question I think people visiting my blog may have.
3. Write a blog post on the same topic as one my most popular posts.
4. Share a photo I took this week and tell you about it.
5. Embed a legal youtube clip that I either found today or created myself. Then tell everyone about the clip and related information.
6. Create a blog post on a subject I’ve never blogged about here before.
7. Share hints or details of what I intend to write about in the future.

The challenge for me, I think is going to be in the 300-400 word count. The other challenge I think is going to write a blog post about a topic I have never posted here. I look forward to doing this challenge. If you are reading this and want to do this challenge too, join us! Feel free to post a comment on Andrew's blog so he knows you are participating! I'm going to love this challenge!

Money, Money, Money

In my last post I mentioned a couple ideas I had in my head brewing to blog about. I think it's time to get them down. This one is going to be about money. Yup, money. I'm not fond of money. I wish that I could never have to worry about it again. But sadly that is not reality.

I started back full time back in September. I get paid very well for my job, but I have been living paycheck to paycheck still. I HATE IT. I'm fed up with it and need to do something about it. I've been watching a show called "Till Debt Do Us Part" on CNBC, or some channel like that. Anyway it's about couples getting out of debt, etc. It really inspired me.

At first I was a bit hesisant to blog about this, but then I realized, pffft. What do I care? So here it goes.

I'm in debt. Again. At one point in our marriage Jason and I had paid off all of our credit cards and swore to not use them again. I didn't follow that plan. Now I'm in debt. As Dave Ramsey would say, I have a Ph.D in D-U-M-B. So here I am, at age 28, still in debt. No where near I want to be financially. I decided that it's time to be smart about money again and stop acting like a kid and buying what I want when I want.

I have created a budget that I need to stick too. I've refined it a couple of times now, and it's getting better each time. I still need to do some adjusting for gift categories, and car repairs, etc. This month I forgot to budget for my tabs. That was $67.25 that I did not have set aside. Instead I raided my grocery and transportation money, and didn't put anything into my entertainment fund. But I'm learning and it is manageable. I can do this.

I've started using the envelope system again, with money in each envelope for each category. Entertainment, Groceries/Personal Care, Transportation, etc. It's working well, except that I hate fumbling with the damn envelopes. Once I get around to it, I'm going to make cute little pouches and keep all my money for the expenses in there. Maybe a cute fabric with cars on for Transportation, a fabric with food on for Groceries, etc. Then when the money is gone from that category, I can't buy anything. I've learned that I am much more careful when spending cash, rather than whipping out my debit card.

I've started to re-read the "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey again. Last night I downloaded a couple of his podcasts to listen to while I was making dinner and balancing the checkbook.

I feel like I am finally going in the right direction and have to stick with this. I know that I can do this. I want to do this.

People around me may not understand why I won't have money to go out to dinner, do retreats, and such. But I'm ok with that. I will try to save some money and put it aside for retreats, as long as I know far enough in advance to plan for it. I'm ok with living on a budget and being tight with my money right now. In the long run it will be worth it. Like Dave Ramsey says, "If you live like no one else now, later you can live like no one else." Another of my Dave Ramsey quotes is, "Normal is broke. Be weird."

I also found a forum that is based around Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps. I think this will help me out. I joined it ages ago and just stumbled upon it again. :) http://www.livinglikenooneelse.com/forum/

I do need to go through my budget again and see what I can cut and where. I really want to be out of debt.

I may post updates about this, or I might not, lol. I'm not sure. I mean it's part of me, but I've always been careful about not oversharing. This is a fine line, even for me. Maybe I will just do it on the forum. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.

Ramblings

It's been a while since I've blogged. As you can tell I started to update my blog. I thought that it would be a nice change for a clean and simple template. I haven't had the time to adjust the banner yet, but I think I will. I'm debating about changing the title of it too, but I'm not positive. I can't wait to make this feel all "at home" again. :) Sorry I've been slow about it!

I'm in the mood to ramble today, so I apologize in advance if this is a rambly post. I'm sitting at my desk at work. I love being by the windows. They are just gorgeous. Today we have some crows that keep flying by the window. The sun isn't out in full force, it was flurrying this morning. But the sun is trying to peek out. I can't tell you how much of a difference being by the windows makes. I can tell that the days are getting longer again. It's not completely dark yet when I leave work at 5 p.m.

One thing has changed since I've last posted. I turned 28 on January 24. I can't believe that I'm almost 30. It's crazy. Where has time gone?!?! My birthday was good. Jason and I spent it hanging out at the house together, we watched a couple of movies too. Jason took me out to Outback for dinner. Steak and Shrimp, YUM! And I just love their salad. It's the best with Blue Cheese dressing. So yummy. I enjoyed the last of my meal at lunch yesterday. I love having leftovers.

This month I have been reading books like mad for some reason. I have my list over at Listology, which I need to add to again. I've finished 2 more books since I last updated it. If I forgot to add the link, let me know. I'm typing this in Word right now, and I have a feeling I will forget the link. Books are like a comfort for me. I love having them around me. They are like friends to me. An escape from reality as well. I can so easily just get lost in a book. I love the escape it provides me. Though sometimes when I finish a good book, I feel like I have lost a friend and I'm a bit sad. Though I know I can always go back and re-read the book. Some authors I wish they would make a series out of books. I just get so involved in their lives.

Guess what else I did last Saturday? I went cropping for the first time in MONTHS! I had a blast! I am still working on my Cathy Zielske class Me: The Abridged Version. I got the base down for 32 8.5x11 pages. Now all I have to do is finish up all my journaling, and add embellishments and pictures. I loved the format of the pages. Clean and simple. Though I will be adding some embellishments. I also LOVED the line of paper I used. It's from "Crate Paper" and is called "Restoration." It is so ME. I bought way more than I need for my book, so I can't wait to scrap something else with it! It felt really good to get out and scrapbook with Mama Jenny and Mary. It was much needed. I still need to finish organizing my room.

I have a couple more updates, but I think I'm going to do them as separate entries. Do you have any topics that you would like me to blog about? If so, just let me know!

2011

Welcome 2011!

The beginning of a new year brings lots of hope and promise for me. I always like the start of a new year. There is just something about it that makes it feel like a fresh start. You can leave everything behind and learn from the last year.

Each year I usually choose a word or phase, a la Ali Edwards, "One Word." This year I didn't pour over her old blog entries about it. I didn't read through lists and lists of words. In fact I haven't read her blog in a while now, so I don't even know if she is doing it this year. The last couple of years I have chose a word and then didn't really focus on it. I might do that this year as well, who knows what the year will hold. But one word has been nagging at me. "Embrace." I realize that sounds like an odd word for anyone to choose. But I want to Embrace life. Embrace experiences. Embrace everything that happens. Embrace the every day things.

Aside from that I don't think I'm going to make any resolutions per say. I want to work on crossing somethings off of my Bucket List. You can find my Bucket List on Listology. The highlighted items are the ones that I have accomplished. Though I"m wondering if I should change them to a strike through. I will have to check that out. :)